Optimus One Pillar of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 53
After a conversation, the problems that had plagued the Ming Dynasty for nearly 200 years were solved. Emperor Jiajing was very happy about this, and he became more and more pleased with Wang Daoqiu.

However, the biggest enemy of the Ming Dynasty at this time was not the chieftains in the southwest, but the hundreds of thousands of Mongolian cavalry on the grasslands in the north.

Since Wang Daoqiu can solve the problem of the southwest chieftain with one idea, what about the north side? Does he also have a solution?Thinking of this, Emperor Jiajing said to Wang Daoqiu: "I love you, you are such a talented person. In just two or three words, you can relieve our dynasty of the century-old trouble in the southwest. But in the past 200 years since the founding of our dynasty, the biggest enemy is not the natives of the southwest." , but the Meng Yuan Tatars in the north. Regarding this, I wonder if Jie Yuanlang has any good ideas to teach me."

In dealing with the problem of nomadic people in the northern grasslands, the most successful one in this regard was of course the Qing Dynasty!In the Qing Dynasty, the Mongols could be said to be completely the lackeys of the Manchus. They would bite whomever they asked, and they were extremely obedient.

The Qing Dynasty's strategy for dealing with Mongolia was not complicated. It first defeated the Mongolian tribes one by one through a series of wars and established its absolute prestige;

Then encourage both parties to marry so that they can become each other's sons and daughters. For example, five of the queens of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty were born in the Mongolian ethnic group. As for the concubines in the Qing palace who were born in the Mongolian ethnic group, there were even more.The most famous among them is the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang who lived through the three dynasties of Huang Taiji, Shunzhi and Kangxi. She came to Horqin Mongolia.

After they were conquered and then married, and the two parties became a family, the Qing government sent Tibetan Buddhist Rinpoches to the grasslands to brainwash the Mongolian herdsmen.It allowed the herdsmen to establish their faith in the "god" of the Qing Emperor, and at the same time, it washed away the hostility of the herdsmen and turned them from being keen on robbing to being keen on worshiping Buddha.

The Qing Dynasty's strategies against the Mongols were very successful, but for the Ming Dynasty, those strategies were unrealistic.After all, the Ming Dynasty now does not have the combat power of the Eight Banners Army in the early Qing Dynasty that swept the world. A few hundred people could chase tens of thousands of Ming troops.It was impossible for the royal family and scholar-bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty to put down their arrogant figures and welcome the Mongols with open arms.

Wang Daoqiu was helpless when he thought of the rotten culture and the unrepentant national narrow-mindedness and xenophobia of the Han nation.

So he had no choice but to ignore those successful cases of the Qing Dynasty, and carefully considered his words to answer Emperor Jiajing: "Your Majesty, the problem of the Beibei is actually a question of thinking. You put yourself in the Tatar's shoes, and put yourself in the Tatar's position. Then this problem will be easily solved.”

"Let me put myself in the position of a Tartar! Xie Yuanlang, what do you mean by that?"

"Your Majesty, you see, the Tatars are covered in ice and snow for most of the year. Moreover, the soil there is very thin and the wind is strong. If anyone opens up wasteland and cultivates land there, within three years, the desert will be covered with ice and snow." The wind will blow away all the soil on the surface of those fields, leaving only the sand underneath."

"Most of the year is covered with ice and snow, the soil is thin and the wind is strong. It is impossible to grow crops in the Mongolian desert, and you can only graze cattle and sheep on the grassland. Because of the harsh natural environment and the mobile life of living from grass to grass, It is simply impossible for them to develop a decent industry. Therefore, they can only rely on us, the Ming Dynasty, to supply them with daily necessities such as salt, iron wire, and silk."

"If the Tatars don't have supplies from us, they won't even have clothes to wear or a pot to cook meat. But our Ming Dynasty's current policy towards the Tatars is to close the country and not sell any items to them. In this way Come on, the situation between the two sides is that the Tatars can't live without what we have, but we don't sell it. So since we don't have it and can't buy it, can't we just rob it? "

Wang Daoqiu's words pointed to the root of the conflict between the two parties.Emperor Jiajing and Lu Bing were both pragmatic people. They understood Wang Daoqiu's meaning and understood Wang Daoqiu's unspoken solution.

But there are uncertainties in this method. For example, the Mongols used trade liberalization and purchased a large number of iron pots.Then take the iron pot back and turn it into molten iron, then make it into a weapon...

If trade is not liberalized, there will be no way for the conflict between the two sides to stop.But once trade was liberalized, the Mongols took advantage of this to strengthen their armaments and invade the south!

It was so difficult. After listening to Wang Daoqiu's words, Emperor Jiajing's head was swollen. His face was stretched out in deep thought, and his fingers were tapping on the table.

After thinking for a long time, Emperor Jiajing finally did not dare to take risks and chose to play it safe.He lamented: "The Tartars are ambitious and plundering. They control the border and prevent the salt and iron from flowing into their hands. They can still stop them with the nine-sided fortress of the Great Wall. If the swords in their hands are allowed to be compared with mine, The Ming army is just as sharp, so I’m afraid the Great Wall won’t be able to stop them! Forget it, forget it, it’s better to be safe!”

Emperor Jiajing chose to be safe and not take risks, and Wang Daoqiu had nothing to say, so it is understandable for Emperor Jiajing to choose this way.After all, after the trade was liberalized, the Mongols happily went back to graze, and then traded cattle and sheep with Daming.Or relying on the iron obtained from the trade to forge weapons and come back to grab Daming later, who can say for sure?
Therefore, Emperor Jiajing chose to be safe, and Wang Daoqiu no longer entangled himself in this matter.After thinking about it again, Wang Daoqiu said to Emperor Jiajing: "Your Majesty, I actually think that to deal with the Tatars, we can use barbarians to fight barbarians." "Use barbarians to fight barbarians? My dear, where are the barbarians who have the strength to fight with the fierce Tatars?" fight?"

Wang Daoqiu said "use barbarians to defeat barbarians", but Emperor Jiajing really couldn't remember that the "barbarians" of the Ming Dynasty could withstand the Mongols, so he looked at Wang Daoqiu in confusion.

Faced with Emperor Jiajing's confusion, Wang Daoqiu smiled and said: "Jurchens! Your Majesty, the Jurchens are not equal to ten thousand, but they are invincible! Your Majesty must have heard this sentence. The Jurchens live among the white mountains and black waters. They usually make a living by fishing and hunting, and are even more ferocious than the Mongolian Tatars. After all, the Mongolians can eat enough by grazing cattle and sheep, but the Jurchens have to fight the jackals, tigers and leopards in the mountains and forests in order to have something to eat. Otherwise, they would either starve to death or become food for wolves, tigers and leopards. Therefore, those Jurchens are all very fierce and can capture tigers and drive bears."

"In the 14th year of the Ming Dynasty, after the Tumubao Incident, the Jurchen leaders of Jianzhou, Li Manzhu, Aixinjueluo, Dong Shan and others, took advantage of the fact that the main force of our Ming army was lost in Tumubao. When the army was weak, they took advantage of the opportunity to steal They plundered the border, and Liaodong was troubled by it. Later, the two emperors of our dynasty, Jingtai and Tianshun, suffered hardships for more than ten years. By the third year of Chenghua, our dynasty's national strength was restored."

"So in the third year of Chenghua, Emperor Xianzong ordered our famous general Zhao Fu to lead our Ming army's [-] elite troops, and also ordered the vassal country North Korea to send tens of thousands of troops to attack the Jurchen right guard of Jianzhou together with our Ming army. At that time, Xianzong The order issued by Emperor Zong is: destroy its nest and destroy its species."

"We have 630 elite Ming troops and tens of thousands of Korean troops, plus the cooperation of Li Gunaha and Naliangha from the three Jianzhou guards. After a month of hard fighting, we have just beheaded more than 240 Jurchen Aixinjueluo people and captured [-] People are called Chenghua Liting in history."

"Your Majesty, we have [-] elite Ming troops, led by the famous general Zhao Fu, with tens of thousands of Korean troops and the cooperation of Jianzhou Jurchen Li Gunaha and Naliangha. We can deal with the Jurchen Jianzhou with only a thousand soldiers. The right guard, Aixinjueluo Dongshan tribe, will have to fight for a month before they can be pacified. Your Majesty, it will take a month for a hundred of us to defeat one of them. The Jurchens have such fighting power. It’s evident how fierce he is.”

"Your Majesty, think about it, just for one Jianzhou Right Guard with more than a thousand soldiers, the imperial court would have to use [-] elites, plus the cooperation of North Korea, to destroy them. But if the three Jianzhou Guards and the others united as one, how many troops would the imperial court have to use to destroy them? Did they defeat them? And in addition to the Jianzhou Jurchens, they also have Haixi Jurchens and Savage Jurchens. If among these Jurchens, there is another hero like Aguda in the Song and Liao Dynasties, who can unify the Jurchen tribes. Your Majesty, like that Do you dare to imagine the consequences?”

"So Your Majesty, the Jurchens' fighting power is really terrifying. The Northern Wolf Clan is truly a powerful army that can run rampant in the world with ten thousand people! Your Majesty, regarding the Jurchens, we can't expect them to do that forever. If everything continues to fall apart like this, there will never be a hero who can unify the Jurchen tribes. If you want to do anything, you will stand up, and if you don't want it, you will destroy it. Your Majesty should have laid out the hidden dangers of the Jurchens in advance for future generations."

"I suggest that our court can take advantage of the fact that they are now divided into different parts, and those in charge are a group of reckless men who are not very smart. We can lure them with benefits and let them fight with the Mongolian Tatars on the battlefield and reduce each other. And these There has been a blood feud between the Jurchens and the Mongols in history, and both sides want to drive out the other."

"When the Jurchens were strong, they would send troops to the grasslands every three years to kill all the Mongolian men they saw, and the young Mongolian women would rob them all and sell them. In this way, they would reduce the Mongolian population so that they could not Yes, the Jurchen Jin regime posed a threat at that time. After the Mongols rose under the leadership of Genghis Khan, they also launched crazy revenge on the Jurchens, killing the Jurchens and almost annihilating their entire clan. Therefore, let the Jurchens and the Mongols hold the When the swords stand together, both sides are very enthusiastic about killing each other."

If the Jurchens are used to deal with the Mongols, no matter who is killed on the battlefield, it will reduce the disaster for the Ming Dynasty.It's a good idea to let the Mongols and Jurchens reduce each other's status! It's a good idea!
Thinking of this, Emperor Jiajing became excited, clapped his hands and said: "Lu Bing, Wang Daoqiu, I order you two to build a steel plant before the Yongding River thaws next year. I want money, and I want to use it before next autumn." , each with a Jurchen cavalry of 300 people for Yansui, Ningxia, Datong, Jizhou, and Xuanfu, to test the effect first, and then consider whether to expand it later."

In Yansui, Xuanfu and other five towns, each town is only equipped with [-] Jurchen cavalry, and the total number is only [-]. Emperor Jiajing is careful enough!But be careful with the ten-thousand-year ship, think about "" the famous emperor Jiajing, the famous emperor, is indeed much better than the famous emperor Chongzhen, the mentality is much better!

First, the problem of chieftains in the southwest was solved, and then they proposed "using barbarians to control barbarians", allowing the Jurchens and Mongols to fight each other on the battlefield.These two suggestions from Wang Daoqiu really satisfied Emperor Jiajing.

So when Emperor Jiajing was happy, he took off the dragon-patterned jade pendant on his body and delivered it to Wang Daoqiu, and told Wang Daoqiu that he could hold this jade pendant and go to Xiyuan to meet him.

Seeing that Emperor Jiajing had given Wang Daoqiu a token, Lu Bing hurriedly took off a gold medal from his body and gave it to Wang Daoqiu, saying that he could use this gold medal to go to Jinyiwei Yamen to find him in the future.

Immediately after Emperor Jiajing, Lu Bing, and Ming Dynasty's Chief of Ceremonies Lu Fang were not to be outdone. He took out an ivory tablet and gave it to Wang Daoqiu.He also told Wang Daoqiu that if someone in the inner court dares to offend Wang Daoqiu in the future, Wang Daoqiu can show this card and that person will kneel down.

(End of this chapter)